DON'T FORGET MOTHER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 237, 22 December 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

DON'T FORGET MOTHER.

TOMMIES SHOULD WRITE REGULARLY HOME.

"1 generally manage to write my nightly letter to my wife, though I fear the weekly one to my mother often gets missed." The words were spoken by an officer who had been a most excellent son and who had a real aifection for his mother. His wife had two little girls to cheer her, but his mother, who had 6pent her very existence in his interests, had to sit in her lonely home day after day long'ng for a word from her boy, watching for the post that never camo and, eventually retiring to bed each night full of anxiety. That lad —and there are hundreds * i the same stamp—did not mean to be neglectful of his mother. But bar home was not his home. Mother's friends, doings and surroundings belonged to another age, and he did not realise that she would he just as interested in hearing of his adventures as his wife would. It was thoughtlessness, that was all, that made him miss his weekly letter to the old lady, but he was breaking a heart all the .same. Generally speaking, the "Tommies" who are not married prove most attentive to the old folks. Indeed, the leaving of a comfortable home has drawn many of them nearer to their parents. They find out all that has been done for them, and gratitude and lovo has been the outcome. But many a solclier boy, when he comes home on leave, spends most of his time with girls or outside friends. His mother is apparently quite content, quite happy because he is near her, but if that lad could bring himseli to say to her: "I'm spending the whole evening with yon to-night, mother, I just want to," what a world of joy he he would put into that good, unselfish heart.